Only the tamest survive tourists

While the rhinoceros's greatest enemy is the poacher hunting for horn, the beast faces subtler dangers in the shape of ecotourists. Two researchers from the University of California, Davis, have shown that tourists may be unwittingly breeding tameness into the animals, by scaring off the shyer ones from their foraging grounds.

Dale Lott and Michael McCoy studied the effect of tourism on the behaviour of Asian rhinos in Nepal's Chitwan National Park. Although these particular rhinos are seldom poached, the researchers wondered if the attentions of tourists caused them stress.

Tourists in Chitwan watch rhinos from the backs of elephants. The drivers often crowd their elephants around rhinos to give their charges a better look. 'You're left to wonder what in the world is going on with that rhino,' said Lott at a meeting of the International Society for Anthrozoology last week.

Lott and McCoy enlisted the help of volunteers. ...

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